An Awful Lot of Running
by Tron45
Summary: The eleventh Doctor has searched for Bonnie and her family, and now he's found them, but at the cost of his eleventh regeneration. The first appearance of my version of the twelfth Doctor, he and Lauren must decide what to do when the Bannisters are sucked into the time vortex.


Disclaimer: I do not own the Doctor, the TARDIS, Bonnie Bannister, or Lauren Bannister. They are all owned by BBC and Bryan Davis respectfully.

AN: This takes place in the first book of the Children of the Bard series, and sees the eleventh Doctor regenerate into the twelfth. I know that he will regenerate come Christmas and that he will most likely be different than who I have portrayed here, but I will still keep this version of the twelfth for all of the one-shots featuring him.

Also, if you have any ideas for any one-shot featuring Doctors 9-12 and any character from any book in the Dragons In Our Midst franchise, then please tell me your idea in a review and I will use it if I like it enough and I will give you credit in the story. Enough blurb, read ahead.

The Doctor ran through the concrete corridors of the Dragon Camp, as he had come to call it, with Bonnie Bannister and her daughter Lauren at either side. He had memorized the hallways that led from the TARDIS to Bonnie's cell in the Healer's room and back, but he was having a bit of trouble remembering the way back to his ship from where they had actually met up with each other.

Even though the Doctor had been running for the last 1,519 years of his life, it didn't help that there were guards chasing them with automatic weapons, shouting for them to halt. The Doctor and his companions paid no attention to them however, and continued their hasty motions to the TARDIS.

There it was! The Doctor skidded to a halt and bolted to his right down another hallway to the familiar shape of the Police Box. Unfortunately, when he stopped to open the doors with his key, one of the faster soldiers caught up with them and unslung his weapon from his shoulder. The Time Lord's ears heard the weapon cocking, so he shoved the doors open and threw the two Bannister women inside. The Doctor followed, but not before the soldier opened fire.

A spray of automatic bullets flew into the TARDIS, some merely bouncing off of the walls, but three lodged themselves in the console, and two found their way into the Time Lord's back.

The TARDIS closed her doors and dematerialized, sensing her theif's pain, and knowing that he would have to regenerate. Bonnie and Lauren rushed to the Doctor's side, unsure of what to do. Lauren couldn't help but feel a little queasy at the sight of blood soaking into the long brown coat on the Doctor's back.

"Help me up," he wheezed. The two Bannister women grabbed the Doctor by his arms and hoisted him up as best as they could, leaning him against the console. The Doctor turned to them, and with tears forming in his eyes, said, "Goodbye, Bonnie Bannister. Though to you I will be the same Time Lord that saved you when you were 13, this to me will always be the face that saw you married to the love of your life."

The Doctor's breaths became quick and shallow, and his face and hands began to glow with the golden energy of regeneration. "I'm going to miss this body," he said. "There were the bowties, the fezzes, the Stetsons, and of course, the fish fingers and custard. Oh well... 'All good things' as they say." With that, the Doctor spread his arms and legs, succumbing to the powerful changing force that is regeneration.

Lauren and Bonnie backed away when he had been talking, and now watched the process in front of them unfold in a mixture of terror and awe. The Doctor was scared. He always was when he started to regenerate. He could feel each of his cells rewriting themselves, turning him into a completely new man. With one last ounce of strength, the Doctor bellowed a loud "Geronimo!"

When the final sylable had been uttered, the Doctor's cry turned from one of excitement to one of pain, and within seconds the energies ceased and the Doctor stood before the two women, healed of the bullet wounds.

"Doctor," Bonnie whispered.

"What?" he asked in a clean American accent. "Is it ugly? Oh, man I hope it's not ugly; I've never been ugly before."

"No, your not ugly... it's just that... well..."

"What?"

"Well, you look like a teenager."

"Really? I've never been a teenager before, that's new."

"Bonnie," Lauren whispered, "what the heck just happened?"

"Bonnie, if you would be so kind as to explain the concept of regeneration to Lauren, I'd best be off to the wardrobe to inspect the damage and get a new set of clothes." The Doctor walked off, leaving Lauren and Bonnie speechless.

The Doctor checked himself out in the mirror. It wasn't a bad face at all that the Doctor had been given this time around. It was surprising that he was a teenager, and it was more suprising that he wasn't ginger. After twelve faces, one would think that he would be ginger at least once.

After retiring his bowtie and his Victorian suit, the Doctor had put on a pair of blue jeans with some black boots similar to what he wore during his ninth incarnation. He had put on a plain black t-shirt that wasn't terribly tight, but showed some of his chiseled physique, a most interesting turn in this regeneration. A black hoodie sweatshirt completed the ensamble, giving the Time Lord a casual air.

His wavy blonde hair was somewhat mussed up, but the Doctor had to admit that he liked it that way. It wasn't so mussed as it was during his tenth incarnation, but it had some texture to it instead of being completely strait as it swooped to the one side like his last face.

He had blue eyes, that was nice. As he stared intently into his reflection, he felt that this particular regeneration had gotten off to a good start. Turning the lights off in the wardrobe, the Doctor made his way back to the console room where Bonnie and Lauren were sitting next to the console. "So, Lauren, are you up to speed?"

Lauren nodded her head. "It just seems so strange."

"That's my life, Lauren Bannister."

"Bannister?"

"Oh, yeah. Didn't I mention?"

Bonnie's eyes began to water. "You mean that Lauren is Karen?"

The Doctor nodded his head.

"Wait, what? How is she my mother?"

The Doctor grasped Lauren's hand and hoisted her to her feet. Placing his hands on her temples, he telepathically told her the story of how she was taken from her family. In less than 60 seconds, Lauren understood her heritage, what her parents had been through in their lives, and how they were connected to the Time Lord.

Releasing her, the Doctor looked into Lauren's eyes and waited for her to respond. "Are you okay?"

Lauren nodded her head. "It's unbelievable."

"Believe it." The Doctor moved over to the console, only to curse in Gallifreyan when he saw the damage the guard's bullets had done to the console. While the damage was reparable, the lead projectiles had damaged the circuits that allowed the TARDIS to travel through time. The spatial controls were undamaged, but the Doctor's regeneration had cost them precious time that he had thought he could make up by remateralizing the TARDIS in the exact moment that she had entered the time vortex.

Moving quickly around the console, the Doctor set the destination for the courtyard of the Dragon Camp, praying to whatever god that might have heard him that he wouldn't be too late to save the other Bannisters. The TARDIS landed with its telltale thud, and the occupants ran to the doors, throwing them open to see a battle waging amidst the dark and cloudy night.

A small fire began to blossom into a cyclone in the middle of the courtyard, causing the Doctor's eyes to grow wide with fear. "No, no, no, no, no no!" he shouted as he ran back to the TARDIS' console. Lookin at the screen, his fears were confirmed: the fabric of reality that seperated normal space from the time vortex was weak in this place, and the portal that Saphira was opening was tearing what little bit of protection from the vortex there was apart.

The Doctor's mind worked as quickly as it could to find a solution to the problem, but even the mind of a Time Lord has its limits. Outside, the Doctor heard the sound of thunder and felt the ground shake beneath his feet. Rushing back to the doors of the TARDIS, he tried to pull the two Bannister women in to close the doors, but the portal to the vortex had already opened, and it was pulling people in.

Bonnie and Lauren held onto the TARDIS exterior for dear life, but couldn't Bonnie's grip began to loosen. By the time the Doctor reached her, she was already hanging on by one hand. "Doctor!" she screamed. The Doctor grasped her remaining hand, and tried to pull her in, but the vortex was too powerful.

"Bonnie, listen to me!" he shouted over the wind. "The energies of Saphira's portal have opened up the time vortex! I can't hold you forever! Listen to me very carefully! The portal energies and the energies you have picked up when you traveled with me will keep you protected from the vortex's power, but it won't stop you from being taken to a new time and place! Once you arrive, you need to lay low! I can use the TARDIS to find you and the rest of your family! I promise you, Bonnie Bannister, I will find you!"

Bonnie nodded her head, and with tears forming in his eyes, the Doctor let go of her hand, quickly grabbing Lauren and pulling her back into the TARDIS.

Sutting the doors, the Doctor braced himself against them and waited for the portal to collapse on itself. After agonizing moments that felt like decades, the ground finally grew still, and the wind outside grew quiet. The Doctor slowly rose from the floor of the TARDIS and opened the doors. Outside was a bare, muddy field with no signs of life. Even the dragons had been sucked through. Billy, Bonnie, Walter, Ashley, Elam, Saphira, his friends had been sent through time and space. Those who had been sucked in that weren't soaked with artron energy would have been killed the instant the time vortex consumed them, though the dragon's scales would help to keep them safe. While the Doctor felt sorry for those lives the time vortex had taken, he couldn't do anything about it.

Closing the doors, the Doctor walked back to the console and began setting coordinates. "What's going to happen now?" Lauren asked the Time Lord.

"I'm taking you to your grandfather," he replied somberly. "He'll take care of you until I can find your parents."

"I want to help you find them," Lauren said suddenly.

The Doctor leaned against the console and looked at her pointedly. "Lauren, I have no idea where they are. The time vortex could have spit them out anywhere in time and space, and I will have to search all of it. If you stay with your grandfather, than the number of years it could take me to find them will seem like an instant to you, because I can come right back to the exact moment I left you. If you come with me, then you will have to suffer through those years as well."

"I don't care," she said. "I want to find my family."

The Doctor said nothing for a moment, only looking at the determined anthrozil standing before him. "It won't be safe, you know. There's going to be so many dangers out there you won't be able to keep them straight in your head."

"You forget, you showed me my family's history. Bannisters take danger head on, and that's what I intend to do."

The Doctor had to admire Lauren's drive. There was something about her, something so remarkable that he couldn't help but note at how wonderful a Time Lady she would make. "Alright, Lauren," he finally acquiesed. "You can come, but I hope you're up for an awful lot of running."

Lauren grinned. "I wouldn't have it any other way."


End file.
